Never Give Up
by farmergeorge
Summary: one of my personal favourites...still in progress.
1. Chapter 1

Dead…?

Gibbs still couldn't believe it. Shannon and Kelly, his family, gone…

Flashback

He had woken up in the gulf after having been in a coma and the first thing he'd asked was to see his wife and daughter. The nurses had exchanged awkward glances before the senior of the two stepped forward and sat down on the visitors chair beside Gibbs' hospital bed.

An important looking man entering the room and flashing a badge spared her the task of breaking the bad news.

"NCIS Special Agent Mike Franks," the stranger said. "I need to talk to Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs alone."

End Flashback

It was this _NCIS Special Agent _who had informed Gibbs of Shannon and Kelly's deaths and told him that he would be escorting Gibbs back to America to identify their bodies. 

Gibbs had just left the hospital morgue with Shannon and Kelly's personal effects and was wandering the streets aimlessly. 

Shannon was a wreck…the flames had burnt her beyond recognition and they had had to identify her by a gold bracelet given to her by Gibbs the day Kelly was born.

Kelly was a wreck too…but in a completely different way. The flames had thankfully not touched her but the life was gone from her. She had always had an energy of fun but that was gone and replaced by the waxy look of a manikin. She didn't even look human anymore, but it was definitely her.

It was dark, but not very late, and there were lots of children about. A few girls about Kelly's age. Gibbs sat down on a bench and buried his face in his hands, was this how the rest of his life was going to be? Every sight of a young girl similar to Kelly would bring him back into this darkness, no matter how much he tried to move on.

A small hand touched his knee and Gibbs looked up.

"Why are you sad?" the child asked.

"Kelly…?" Gibbs whispered.

The girl looked confused and then was whisked away by her scolding mother.

"Lorraine!! What have I told you about talking to strangers! Especially men like _that_!" The girl's mother threw a disgusted glance back at Gibbs.

Gibbs was offended for a few seconds before he realized why Lorraine 's mother was so concerned. He considered his appearance; he was wearing the same clothes he had been for the past three days and he hadn't showered or shaved since he had come home from the gulf. Kelly used to like his stubble. She had laughed when it tickled her face as her father gave her a goodnight kiss.

"Kelly…" he whispered again.

"Daddy!!" a girl screamed.

Gibbs looked up and saw a frightened girl running straight for him, followed by an oddly suspicious looking man.

The girl was not just _similar_ to Kelly, she was an exact replica!

Gibbs stood up to greet his daughter with open arms. She was just inches away when the man caught up with her and snatched her up in his own arms.

"Daddy!!" she screamed again, looking desperately at Gibbs who was just standing in shock.

"That man is not your father!!" the strange man shouted.

"Yes he is," she insisted. "I'm Kelly Gibbs, and that man is my daddy: Jethro Gibbs!!"

"No, he isn't," the man shouted, putting Kelly on the ground and clutching her shoulders; she winced in pain. "You are Darcy Thomson and _I_ am your dad."

"No you are not!!" Kelly yelled, trying to push past him.

The man picked her up again and began to walk away.

"Daddy!!" Kelly pleaded one last desperate time.

Gibbs snapped out of his trance and ran after Kelly. Her kidnapper had started to run too, with Kelly weeping and screaming, half over his shoulder. They crossed a road.

The last Gibbs heard from Kelly was another desperate plea for her daddy as a truck sped passed in between them. When the truck passed Gibbs crossed the road in search of Kelly, but all he saw before him was a dark alley with a dead end.


	2. Chapter 2

Gibbs ran to the nearest police station. It was just two streets away so he was there in a matter of minutes.

He crashed through the doors, receiving annoyed glares from a vast assortment of people, including police officers, junkies and several other suspicious looking characters.

"My daughter-has been- kidnapped," he panted when he reached the desk.

"How can I help you sir?" asked the impersonally cheery receptionist.

"My daughter has been kidnapped!!" Gibbs shouted, getting his breath back.

"And what is your name sir?" she asked calmly in the same falsely cheery tone.

"Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs." Gibbs stated impatiently.

The receptionist entered a few pieces of information into her computer.

"Um...sir..." she said after a few more clicks of her mouse. "Your daughter is dead...in fact, it says that you identified her body just a couple of hours ago."

"I know that!!" Gibbs said angrily. "But that's not what I'm talking about! She has been kidnapped."

"Um..." the receptionist was confused, "Maybe there's another Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs?" 

"No. I did identify her body, except it wasn't her!! She's been kidnapped, she's not actually dead!"

"Um...do you have another daughter?" The receptionist wasn't following a word that Gibbs was saying.

"No!!" Gibbs shouted. "She is my only daughter, she was dead but she wasn't really dead and it wasn't really her body that I identified because she has been kidnapped!!"

"But- but- sir..." The receptionist pleaded.

She didn't know what to do and she was steadily becoming more and more frightened of the angry, desperate man in front of her.

"Is there a problem here?" A police officer came to the desk, noticing the receptionist's distress.

"Um...this man identified the dead body of his daughter earlier this evening but he is insisting that she has been kidnapped." the receptionist replied, grateful of the police officer's help.

"You mean to say that you suspect that her corpse has been snatched sir?" the officer looked at Gibbs.

"How many times do I have to say this?! She is not dead! Kelly has been kidnapped!!"

The receptionist and the police officer exchanged looks that only too obviously said that they thought Gibbs was clearly in denial over losing his daughter.

"Sir, why don't you come with me? We can put you in an interrogation room to relax," the police officer offered.

"Thank you Officer Thomson." The receptionist said.

"No problem Darcy."

Thomson!? Darcy!? Why were those names familiar? Gibbs' mind was racing in confusion.

Thomson? Darcy Thomson!! The name Kelly's kidnapper had insisted was her own!!  
That was it...but there was something else...

Gibbs was sure there had to be another reason that the name Darcy Thomson was so familiar to Gibbs.

Then he realized...and he knew exactly where he needed to go if he was going to get any help in finding Kelly.

Gibbs turned away from the police officer and the receptionist and headed towards the door muttering "Darcy Thomson!!


	3. Chapter 3

"I need to talk to you," Gibbs said, walking into the squad-room of NCIS. "In private," he added, glaring at several young, nervous-looking agents.

"Regarding what?" Mike Franks surveyed Gibbs' angry but urgent stance.

"I think I know who kidnapped my daughter!"

"You mean killed Gunny. Your daughter is dead, but there was no murder. Merely an unfortunate car accident."

"No. I mean kidnapped." Gibbs insisted.

"Conference room. Now," said Franks, becoming aware of the eavesdropping agents pretending to mind their own business.

He headed towards the elevator. 

'Conference room?' Gibbs thought, 'they have a conference room?'

"You coming or not, Gunny?"

Gibbs followed Mike Franks into the elevator where the agent flicked the emergency stop switch almost instantly after the doors closed.

"Um- I thought- what about the conference room?" Gibbs asked, confused.

"This is the conference room." Franks said simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Now, you think your daughter has been kidnapped?"

"No, I know she has been kidnapped. I saw her and her kidnapper." 

"Are you sure you didn't just see another young girl with her father? Sometimes the mind plays tricks like that after emotionally distressing events such as losing a loved one." 

'What are you a psychiatrist?' Gibbs thought. "Yes. I'm sure. And I'm also fairly certain I know who kidnapped her." 

"What does this have to do with NCIS?"

"I need you to bring a marine in for questioning."

"It's not as simple as that, Gunny, you need good reason to bring someone in."

"He kidnapped my daughter!!" Gibbs tried his best not to shout.

"And do you have proof of that?" Franks asked skeptically.

"He insisted that Kelly's name was Darcy Thomson."

"What relevance does that have?"

It was obvious that Franks thought that Gibbs was either making this up or imagining it.

"When I was in service in the Gulf," Gibbs launched into explanation, "Eric Thomson, a fellow marine and a good friend of mine, lost his daughter. Her name was Darcy, she was about the same age as Kelly and very similar in many ways. Kelly and Darcy had spent a lot of time together over the years and were very good friends. When Eric lost Darcy he suffered a psychological breakdown, he was in denial and insisted that she was still alive. He was sent home because of concern for his mental health and shortly after his departure I discovered that my one and only picture of Kelly had vanished and had been replaced by a photograph of Darcy. I thought nothing of it at the time and concluded that Eric had merely mistaken the photographs in his hurried packing…but now I suspect he is the one that kidnapped Kelly."

"You suspect?" Franks asked. He had listened silently through Gibbs' speech. "I thought you said you had seen him."

"I did, but only briefly and not very well. It was dark and it all happened so fast. I couldn't be sure that it was him, but then hearing the name Darcy Thomson made me feel in my gut that it had to have been Eric." 

"You know, we could really use that sort of thinking here at NCIS." Franks said, obviously impressed and almost smiling.

They exited the elevator, back at the squad room. 

"Um- boss…" The obviously senior agent came to greet them, "We just got a call. There's a-"

"Forget about it, one of the other teams can handle it. Right now we have a marine in questionable mental health to find." Franks cut him off. "I need you to find me all you can on a marine by the name of Eric Thomson."

The senior agent turned round to get on with the task before suddenly stopping and turning back round to face them again.

"That call…it was…um…the dead body of an Eric Thomson has just been discovered."


End file.
